The new American Craft Beer Hall of Fame has announced a list of nominees from whom the Hall’s inaugural class of inductees will be chosen. Your friendly columnist is delighted to be a member of the ACBHOF Board of Advisors; the election process is explained here.
Founded with the mission of honoring and remembering those who have contributed to the growth and success of the country’s craft beer industry, The Hall hopes to inspire current and future generations to continue to innovate and collaborate so that it may thrive for many years to come.
Preliminary voting yielded nineteen nominees (in alphabetical order): “These people represent various facets of the industry — brewery owners, brewers, writers, educators, and others; they are recognized by The Hall for their involvement in and support of the American craft beer industry.”
● Charlie Bamforth (born 1952) … English scientist specializing in malting and brewing
● Larry Bell (born 1958) … homebrewer and founder of Bell’s Brewery
● Sam Calagione (born 1969) … founder of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery
● Fred Eckhardt (1926-2015) … homebrewer, writer; the dean of American beer writing
● Teri Fahrendorf (born 1960) … brewer and founder of the Pink Boots Society
● Charles Finkel (born 1943) founder of Bon-Vin, Merchant du Vin, and The Pike Brewing Company
● Bert Grant (1928–2001) … expert on the hop plant; founder of Yakima Malting and Brewing Co. (brewer of Grant’s Real Ales)
● Ken Grossman (born 1954) … co-founder of Sierra Nevada Brewing Company
● Julia Herz (born 1968) … beer judge homebrewer, longtime “face” of the Brewers Association, now the director of the American Homebrewers Association
● Michael Jackson (1942-2007) … English journalist and writer whose 1977 book The World Guide To Beer kickstarted a revolution
● Kim Jordan (born 1958) … co-founder, chair of the board, former CEO of New Belgium Brewing
● Jim Koch (born 1949) … fifth-generation brewer and co-founder of the Boston Beer Company (Samuel Adams)
● Fritz Maytag (born 1937) … former owner of Anchor Brewing Company in San Francisco
● Jack McAuliffe (born 1945) … founder of the New Albion Brewing Company in Sonoma, California, the first American microbrewery of the modern era (1976)
● Garrett Oliver (born 1962) … brewmaster at Brooklyn Brewery and writer (The Brewmaster’s Table)
● Charlie Papazian (born 1949) … homebrewer, writer (The Complete Joy of Home Brewing), educator and founder of Association of Brewers (later the Brewers Association)...Read more
